Dalea candida (White Prairie-Clover) - photos and description

 

 

 

 

 

 

General: Plants usually with several stems, decumbent to erect. Stems glabrous.

Flowers: Flowers in dense, terminal spikes, are white with gold stamens, spikes to 5 cm long. An individual flower was measured at 4 mm diameter. Flowers open first at bottom of the spike. Flowers fragrant.

Leaves: Leaves alternate, pinnate with 5 to 7 leaflets. Leaflets oblong on lower leaves, linear at top of stem. Leaf highlighted in photo above had leaflets 15 mm long and 4 mm wide. Leaves glabrous.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 50 cm, we measured plants to 55 cm tall.

Habitat: Dry prairie hillsides.

Abundance: Listed as uncommon in Checklist of Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan.

Origin: Native.

Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Petalostemon candidum.

When and where photographed: Photos taken July 10th and 16th, prairie hillside, Qu'Appelle Valley, 35 km north of our home in Regina, SK.